MuSR / Who is the most likely murderer?

question

Who is the most likely murderer?

narrative

In the sleepy town of Mapleton, the unusual murder of Stella by a nunchaku in her own kitchen has set the stage for Detective Winston's most perplexing case yet.

Emma, the renowned fashion designer, was having quite the morning with her martial arts training. Nothing out of the ordinary. Her classmates know her to be systematic, picking up the pace at which she had been twirling the nunchaku around; she had been at this for a while. Today's training session ended with each student placing their nunchaku back in its storage area. Emma, being one of the last attendees to leave, noticed that the instructor was already preoccupied with another task and wasn't paying attention. This allowed Emma to slyly pocket her training Nunchaku, unnoticed by everyone. Emma usually attended these classes regularly, blending easily within her group, never causing a fuss.

Emma's next stop was Stella's. Winston examined Emma's calendar and noted that she and Stella had an appointment back at Stella's home for a fitting. Stella liked having her fittings at home, right there in the kitchen. Their appointment was routine; the kitchen was the best spot for Stella to have a fitting given its large, airy space. Moreover, Stella had always been known to spend her mornings truly alone, right there in the kitchen. This allowed her to enjoy her solitude without attraction any attention or interruptions. There's no harm in using it as a makeshift studio.

While Emma was working in Stella's kitchen, Stella had taken it upon herself to visit Emma's studio. Emma didn't mind. She knew her studio was a secure private space, no prying eyes to worry about. But then, something piqued Stella's interest. She found a hidden stack of papers from Emma's sketchbook. Intrigued, Stella began looking more closely at the sketches. They were designs of a new collection, never before seen. And as she scrutinized them, a glassy look came over Stella's eyes. These designs resembled her own unlaunched collection, she realized.

Emma had arrived back at the studio to find Stella stiff with anger and an odd collection of sketch pages in her hand. Stella looked up at Emma, her features hardening as she accused her of plagiarism and threatened to expose her.

Despite Emma's flair for art and design, this niche of Stella's discovery in her studio led Winston back to the martial arts class and how Emma had learned to expertly handle the nunchaku. He found it peculiar that such a unique weapon was the weapon of choice in Stella's demise. More peculiar and somewhat perplexing was how Emma would have found an opportunity to carry a pair of the increasingly rare weapon, nunchaku to the crime scene without anyone noticing. This case was turning out to be more intriguing than Winston had initially assumed; a fashion designer, a nunchaku, and a quiet kitchen.

While smoking on his half-bitten down cigar, Winston rubbed the corner of his eye, trying to make sense of the gruesome, disarming photographs of Stella's murder scene in her own kitchen.

There was a mere few facts he had that could be of any substance for the detective, one of which was that nunchaku was held responsible for the cause of death, synonymous with martial arts, that made Winston think of Milton, a martial arts enthusiast appearing rather benign.

Another fact he'd picked up on was that Milton had been invited by Stella for dinner that fatal night. Winston stomped out his cigar, inaudibly muttered 'no holds barred,' and prepared to interview his suspect of interest - Milton.

Arriving at the local dojo, after a short spar, a sweat-drenched Milton, sporting his martial arts certification belt, made his way over to Winston.

"Hi Detective," greeted Milton offering a tepid smile.

"Milton," acknowledged Winston commenting, "see you're stickin' to your trainin' regimen."

Adjusting his martial arts belt, Milton nodded, "It's a passion, yes sir, good way to keep fit."

"You were invited to Stella's last night for dinner, ain't that right?" inquired Winston, his eyes never leaving Milton's face.

Taken aback by Winston's sudden mention of Stella, Milton blurted, "Y-yes. I was invited...we were good friends and I was often at her place for dinner. I found out this morning...that she was murdered in her own kitchen after dinner."

One eyebrow arched skeptically, Winston questioned further, "and you left her house when, after dessert?"

"Got a call from trace analysis," Winston's phone intercepted abruptly, "looks like the local journalist sent over some more pictures of Milton. He was captured in various locations, which we later discovered were areas of Tommy's gang activity."

"Winston, we also got a picture of Milton with Tommy at the local bar," the voice continued, "judging from the photo, Tommy's living up to his reputation as a troublemaker - even in the bar, his henchmen are always around him."

"Milton, how'd you account for your presence at these 'areas of interest'?" Winston asked, showing him the freshly received photos over the phone.

Milton looked stunned, "I had...I had no idea about this. I did meet Tommy once at the bar, but..."

Before he could finish his defense, Winston wrapped up, "It's getting late, Milton, let's continue this another day."

As Winston drove off, he glanced at another picture sent over from forensics featuring Milton and Tommy, both laughing over drinks at a local bar with Tommy's henchmen lurking in the background, serving as a chilling background to his already twisted thoughts of the case.

choices

• Milton
• Emma